COURTHOUSE — Sheriff’s Deputy Joanne Plasterer announced the arrest of three more allegedly delinquent since a countywide sweep began Tuesday morning.

“Thank you to the public for their support. Because of the tips we have had we’ve apprehended four more people,” Plasterer said told media in press conference in the Courtroom G Friday afternoon.

Between 1 and 7 a.m. Tuesday, Montgomery County and Bucks County Sheriff’s Deputies went around Montgomery County with 37 bench warrants against parents accused of not paying child support. Eighteen of those listed were taken into custody.

“On the list of those 37, 16 were considered our most targeted. They were most targeted because of the amount of the arrears that they owe,” Plasterer said.

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After seeing a judge on Tuesday afternoon, 14 of the 18 defendants arrested Tuesday morning had been incarcerated to Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

“They were ordered to pay, between the 14 of them, a total of $33,953,” Plasterer said.

One defendant at the prison was ordered to pay a purge amount of $10,000, she said.

Defendants who do not pay court-ordered child support and can face up to six months in county prison.

Sheriff’s department has arrested a total of 21 defendants since Tuesday, Plastere said. Seven of those defendants were a part of the 16 most targeted.

During a press conference on Tuesday morning after the sweeps, Plasterer shared a poster of the eight most wanted individuals. By Friday morning the eight most wanted individuals on that list had been reduced to four.

The Sheriff’s Department is still seeking the public’s help in finding four top targeted defendants: Alphonse Defrancesco of Blue Bell, who owes $37,192 for two children; Daniel Darden of Norristown, who owes $50,878 for three children; Francis McLaughlin of Lower Merion, who owes $54,788 for three children; and Londun Ricketts of Royersford owes $24, 935 for one child.

According to a press release issued Friday, the highest purge amount that was paid this week was $10,333.93 and the lowest amount paid was $120.

According to Rebecca Colantuno, assistant director of the Montgomery County Domestic Relations Office, more over $16,000 has been paid in purge amounts this week. A purge amount is the amount a parent must pay to be released from prison.

The Domestic Relations Office has started a mass texting initiative to alert defendants who have warrants that it is better for them to turn themselves in.

Colantuno said parents who are not paying child support has not become too big of a problem, but the domestic relations office now has the resources to track people down.

“I don’t think it’s becoming a major problem, but I think that what we’re now realizing is that we have the means and the tools to go after those who feel that they don’t think it’s a priority,” she said.

The Sheriff’s department has the ability to go anywhere in Pennsylvania to apprehend defendants. If the defendants leave the state, the case will eventually be turned over to the United States Attorney General’s Office.

“If they prove that they move deliberately out of state, to avoid paying child support, they will be charged with a felony by the United States Attorney General’s office. Then they come back to us,” Plasterer said.

Anyone with information on the remaining defendants or their whereabouts is asked to contact the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department at 610-2778-3340.